Clearview National July 2015 - Issue 164 | Page 24

INDUSTRYNEWS

Giving young people a chance
Clearview invited Andy Kerr of North East Conservatory Solutions to talk about
apprenticeships, what the company is doing towards training and developing young
people in its business, and more importantly, what young apprentices are doing for them.
»»Andy Commented: “In
2014 under 25’s in particular were
still struggling to get a decent job.
We have always had a positive
policy regarding employing
younger people and making sure
we support them with ongoing
training.
“With the support of
government incentives and
incorporating NVQs (National
Vocational Qualifications) in our
business, we have been able to
significantly increase our staff
numbers and our production
output over the last 12 months.”
North East Conservatory
Solutions works in partnership
with the North East Chamber
of Commerce, who provided
them with the facility to search
for young people interested in
applying for apprenticeships.

Andy continues: “I’ve
always believed in investing
in my staff, whether through
apprenticeships or ongoing
training and it has proved to
have been a good decision.
I can definitely recommend
NVQ schemes for all areas of a
business.”
North East Conservatory
Solutions take on two to three
apprentices a year and track
their personal development,
providing support and reviews,
new skills and giving the young
workers tasks that can be
assessed every month.
“By hiring apprentices, young
people get goals and targets
set, giving them something to
work towards as well as a sense
of meaning and belonging in an
organisation.” Andy adds.

24 » JUL 2015 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M

As well as training a young
workforce, investing time and
resources towards apprentices can
be highly beneficial to companies.
Andy says: “Apprentices
bring exuberance and fresh,
clear thinking. They have no
preconceptions about how the
double glazing industry used to be.
“The biggest benefit of getting
younger people into the workplace
is that they want to learn and
are prepared to learn new ways
of doing things. Their ability to
learn and their motivation is
phenomenal, as is their impact
upon the company.”
Everyone other than
Andy started at North East
Conservatory Solutions as an
apprentice, which has seen growth
at an accelerated rate in recent
years.

He adds: “Some of our staff
were looking for work for years
with no luck, but if you just
give them the opportunity, they
flourish and we have seen that
here.
“Every company should make
time for apprentices and give
people a chance: What have you
got to lose? Hiring apprentices
is limited risk. We wouldn’t have
expanded as quickly as we have
without apprenticeship schemes.
It has benefitted us no end and
we have quadrupled in size over
the last three years due to our
apprentices.
“Things are looking really good
for our business in 2015 and it
makes us feel proud to be helping
to develop young talented people
to learn new skills and earn a
proper wage.”